Thursday, May 7, 2009

Media Prima eyes Maldives

Media Prima Berhad (MPB) is exploring opportunities in the Republic of Maldives.

MPB chairman Dato’ Abdul Mutalib Razak last month led a delegation to visit the South Asian island to help the country develop its media and broadcast industries.

The visit, which was made upon the invitation of the republic’s Ministry for Tourism, Arts and Culture, also explored opportunities for training of local media and broadcast personnel, and the sharing of expertise in the field of broadcasting, especially in the areas of management, financing, marketing, productions and technical.

MPB, which has investments across different types of media, has been actively exploring opportunities outside of Malaysia. It recently expressed interest in Oman and Pakistan.

“The working visit is very much in line with our regional expansion strategies and will allow us to explore opportunities for collaboration,” said Dato’ Abdul Mutalib.

“The invitation by the Republic of Maldives is testimony to the growing reputation of MPB within the regional broadcast industry, particularly the excellent work in building our TV networks to be the leading media platform in Malaysia,” he added.

MPB said it has been investing in digitising its broadcast infrastructure and adopting state-of-the-art digital technologies. Its broadcast infrastructure at its Sri Pentas facility in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, the company said, is already fully digital and ready for the shift from analogue to digital transmission.

MPB, which owns the free-to-air TV networks TV3, 8tv, ntv7 and TV9, also conducted a digital broadcasting pilot trial last quarter as part of its digital strategy.